Surgery Case Study: Canine Cranium

What Was it?

The object buried in the dog's head was none other than a stick.

Once the stick was teased out (see video), the dog's wound healed quickly and completely. There were no further complications, and the dog, who is doing well, has returned to all of his normal activities.

(a) German Shepherd Cranium

A client brought his German Shepherd to Penn Vet because the dog had an open, draining wound on the side of his head. The wound had been draining for two years, even though the dog had already undergone an unsuccessful surgery.

Can You Find the Object?Look at the top right portion of the bone tissue. Just above it, you'll see an arrow pointing to a lighter spot. Watch as the spot moves closer to the skull in the next radiographs.

(b) German Shepherd Cranium

The object (pointed to by the red arrow) has not only migrated closer to the skull tissue, but it looks as if there is now a small lip of bone starting to emerge next the object.

(c) German Shepherd Cranium

As the CT scan travels along the length of the skull, the bone tissue seems to be growing over the object.

(d) German Shepherd Cranium

Probably because the object has been in the dog's head for so long, the bone tissue seems to have continued to grow around the foreign object.

(e) German Shepherd Cranium

At its furthest point, the foreign object is now nearly completely surrounded by bone tissue that has grown around it.